The NBA is still planning to play a regular-season game in London before the 2012 Olympics are hosted by the British capital, although commissioner David Stern said on Tuesday there was no set schedule.
Stern has said that he wants to play a meaningful game at London’s O2 Arena, where the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 102-101 in a preseason game on Tuesday.
“We hope to do it,” Stern said, adding that next year and 2011 would be the last chances. “We’re running out of runway, but we will likely do it.”
The NBA was playing in London for the third straight year, and the game at the O2 was again sold out. Although this year’s trip to Europe was cut down from previous visits, the Jazz still have one more game to play today against Real Madrid in the Spanish capital.
“I’d love to play here,” said Bulls forward Luol Deng, who was raised in London after his family fled Sudan. “I won’t be surprised if that happens.”
The NBA is also playing preseason games in other countries, including Taiwan and Mexico.
Stern also spoke about the global economic downturn and the talks with the referees union. The NBA has locked out the regular referees because of a contract dispute.
“As far as I know, there have been no further conversations with the union,” Stern said. “Right now we are not discussing anything with the union, but they know how to reach us.”
Last year, Stern said there would be cutbacks at the NBA because of the financial crisis, but this year he said his organization had been hiring overseas employees.
“We have been hiring. Stealth hiring, so don’t tell anybody,” said Stern, who would only say the NBA has hired more than 10 and less than 50 new people in the last year. “Suffice it to say that we’ve made a number of hires with respect to international.”
Stern also said that revenues would be down, but that was because teams have been lowering ticket prices to accommodate fans who are also suffering from the bad economy.
“Revenues will be down somewhere between 2.5 and 5 percent,” said Stern, who added that the NBA was doing a good job of weathering the crisis. “We feel pretty good about our place at this difficult time.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB